Assateague Island National Seashore - Marine Animal Strandings, 2000

Ramsey, Shanna

During 2000, a total of 15 stranded dead marine animals came ashore on Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. There were no live strandings. Eleven of the 15 were federally listed as threatened or endangered species. Of the total animals stranded on the ocean and bay shores, there were 9 sea turtles and 6 marine mammals. Dead sea turtle strandings included 6 Loggerhead Turtles, Caretta caretta, 2 Leatherback Turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, and 1 Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas. Dead marine mammals included 1 each of Sperm Whale, Physeter catodon, Common Dolphin, Delphinus delphis, Harbor Porpoise, Phocoena phocoena, Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, Humpback Whale, Megaptera novaeangliae and Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia breviceps. Strandings were documented from 30 January through 22 November. There were no strandings during the months of May, June or July. The Marine Mammal/Sea Turtle Stranding Network, through the Cooperative Oxford Laboratory in Maryland, examined all dead strandings and prepared written reports. Between 1990 - 1999, the average number of total strandings recorded for the Maryland portion of Assateague Island was 14 each year, with ranges from 6 - 22 animals.